


This Vest Isn't Rebar Proof

by actually18pigeons



Series: Whumptober 2020 [5]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Episode Related, Hurt Steve McGarrett, Hurt/Comfort, I hurt Steve bc I prefer writing Steve whump, Steve gets hurt instead of Danny in this one, Whumptober, Whumptober 2020, collapsed building, episode tag: s04e19, no.4, stabbed with some rebar
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:07:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26850373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/actually18pigeons/pseuds/actually18pigeons
Summary: Episode Tag to 4x19, the collapsed building episode. But Steve gets impaled rather than Danny cause I'm a sucker for Steve whump. Vaguely follows the same plotline. Whumptober Day 5, Prompt 4 - Collapsed building.
Series: Whumptober 2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1941847
Comments: 4
Kudos: 49





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is an au for 4x19, the collapsed building episode, where Danny gets impaled by the bar. But this time it’s Steve! Because I love the whump, but I’m a sucker for Steve Whump so hey why not! Obvs it’s based on a H50 plot, I’m just taking some creative liberties, but it will loosely follow the plot of the episode.

“Steve!” Danny yelled, coughing as he inhaled a lungful of dusty air. He could barely hear his own voice over the ringing in his ears. He yelled again. His ribs screamed as the tried to stand, a few heavy stones and a metal bar rolling off his body as he painfully got to his feet, pulling out his flashlight. Looking around frantically Danny pieced together the past… however long it had been. Had it been minutes since the explosion? Hours? Was his team okay? Was help even on the way yet?

Rubbing his eyes Danny scanned the broken room if you could even call it a room anymore. Cinderblocks lay in piles everywhere, pipes and pieces of wood were sticking out of the rubble at strange angles. He pulled out his phone, cursing at the unsurprising lack of service. “Steve?” Danny yelled again as the ringing in his ears lessened slightly. The dust was beginning to settle, and Steve was nowhere to be seen. He began to pick his way through the debris, searching for any sign of his partner. He had to be alive. He lived through all his stupid stunts, no way he was going to be taken down by a bad tip and some rocks. 

There. Danny saw a gun. Steve’s gun. He had to be nearby. “Steve! Where are you?” Then he saw his legs, barely visible under a pile of bricks. “Steve. Please be okay. Dear God please let him be okay,” Danny stumbled towards him, his light illuminating most of Steve’s lower body, blood slowly soaking through his left pants leg where a deep gash was exposed. 

He heard a quiet groan from under the debris. Thank God. That noise, however faint, answered all the Hail Marys he had been sending these last few minutes. Steve was alive. But that wasn’t the end of his worries. He was still in this space, growing every smaller, with tons of concrete overhead, and his partner was in god-knows-what kind of condition. 

Danny stuck his flashlight in his mouth, not wanting to take his eyes of his partner, but knowing he had to start uncovering him. He didn’t want to see the damage, but he had to. He strained, chest burning as he began to lift chunks of stone off of Steve, slowly uncovering his chest. As he tossed away some of the rocks lying around Steve he revealed his head, eyes still closed. “Steve? You with me?” A small noise of affirmation came in reply, the twitch of fingers caught his eyes. “Hey, hey, we’re gonna get you out of here.” 

Danny continued to lift the rocks until he could more-or-less see all of Steve’s body, in all it’s bloody, dusty glory. He kneeled by his side, a gloved hand gently cupping his cheek. “Hey, wanna open your eyes for me babe?” 

Steve’s eyes opened a crack, meeting Danny’s within a few seconds, a confused look spreading over his face. “What happn’d” 

“There was a bomb, it was a bad tip, the building collapsed, and… we’re stuck under a couple hundred tons of concrete... so that’s not ideal.” His thoughts began to race as he said these words, the seriousness of the situation beginning to sink in. Steve coughed heavily, groaning as he tried to move. “Hey no don’t move yet, you’re hurt.” Danny ran his hands over Steve’s body, feeling for any… anything. “Damn it, Steve,” he whispered. There was a sliver of metal rebar sticking out of his side, just under where his vest ended. 

“What is it?” Steve craned his neck, trying to assess the damage for himself. 

“Stop don’t move, so far we’re got some kind of puncture wounds, and a cut on your leg, neither of which are aided by being covered in dust and us being under a whole freaking building.”

“Danny calm down.”

“Say that again Steve. I swear. Are you really going to tell me to calm down right now? You’re as good as bleeding out, and I’m down here with you, and you’re the one with all that bullshit medical knowledge, and even if you weren’t injured how the hell are we going to get out of here?”

“They’ll get us out.”

“They don’t even know where we are!”

“They’ll find us, I promise. And I’m right here with my bullshit medical knowledge. I can talk you through anything you need to do. So just take a deep breath for me. We’re together, we’re alive, get your head on straight, and let’s get out of here.” 

Danny took a stuttering breath, staring at his partner - covered in bruises, bleeding from various wounds, how the hell were they going to get out?

“Okay Danny, the first concern is infection. I’m going to need you to get the metal out.”

“Hell no. I’m not pulling that out of you. You’ll bleed out before you can tell me what to do next.”

“I won’t. Not if we’re prepared. Yes, the blood is a concern, but sepsis is a bigger concern. Infection sets in, we’re in big trouble. Well… bigger trouble, I need you to find something to clean the wound.”

“I’m not leaving you alone!”

“You have to, find some kind of cleaner with peroxide in it, there was some on the shelves, it should be around somewhere. Danny, you got this, I trust you.” He held out a shaky gloved hand, and Danny held onto it like a lifeline, squeezing his partner’s hand like he had done so many times before. 

“Be right back babe.” He turned, scanning the dim space for any supplies, finding a bottle of cleaner several feet away under a collapsed shelving unit, and returning swiftly to Steve’s side. 

“Okay now what?”

“Take my vest off, you’ll need space to work, and tear some fabric to tape over the wound once it’s out.”

Danny complied, pulling Steve’s vest off gently, as he exposed his slowly bleeding midriff, and beginning to tear a piece of his shift off, “God, it couldn’t have fallen two inches higher could it?”

Steve groaned, “Either way, it’s bulletproof, not rebar proof.” Danny shined his light at Steve’s midsection, seeing the grotesque way the metal pierced his skin. “Okay Danny, you’re gonna pull it out, I might lose consciousness-”

“What? No! How am I supposed to get us out of here if you’re unconscious.” 

“It’ll only be for a few seconds at most, just a reaction to the pain. Once it’s out douse it with the cleaner and tape the cloth on while maintaining pressure. The bleeding should slow pretty quickly. Ready? Take a deep breath.” 

Danny took a breath, steeling himself. He wrapped his scraped hands around the metal, adjusting his grip as his hands slipped on the blood coating it. “3… 2… 1…” and he yanked it out, tossing it away as blood came pouring out of the hole. He grabbed the cleaner, popping the cap, and pouring a generous amount onto the wound. Steve was biting into his vest, but Danny could still hear his muffled scream. 

He had seen Steve in pain plenty of times, but it was never at his hand, not like this. Steve’s eyes were squeezed closed, tears making trails down his dust-covered cheeks, and his breath hitched as his head lolled back momentarily. Danny shoved the fabric onto the wound, pressing down hard. Steve’s eyes shot back open, another scream tearing through the air, as he tried to roll away from Danny’s hands. But Danny continued the unrelenting pressure, pressing duct tape over the wounds, holding the makeshift bandage tight. 

Steve’s hands fumbled with Danny’s trying to find the wound, so Danny guided his hands to it, letting go as Steve put pressure on it. His heart ached as Steve groaned loudly.

Steve tried to sit up, “Gimme a hand will you.”

“Only you, you neanderthal,” Danny reached out a hand, pulling Steve into a sitting position. “You okay?”

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine.”

“Let’s get out of here before you start making claims like that. How’s that leg doing?” Steve let one of his hands wander to his leg, his other pressing hard into his abdomen. 

“It’s still bleeding. We should disinfect it and wrap it.”

“We? There is no ‘we’ to it. I’m the one pouring bleach on you and having to hear you scream. I don’t want to keep hurting you.”

“Well, you don’t really have a choice. It’d be a shame if we went through all that trouble just to have a cut on my leg get infected.” 

“I guess.” Danny grabbed the bottle again, tearing another strip off his shirt as Steve shifted so he was leaning against the pile of stones. He quickly repeated the process, trying to mentally block out Steve’s moan of pain. “You good now? Anything else I should pour peroxide on?” 

Steve sighed, leaning heavier on the rocks behind him. “Nah I think I’m good.” They both jumped as a phone rang nearby. It was Danny’s, he must have dropped it at some point. He scrambled to answer it.

“Danny?” It was Catherine. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, Steve is a bit banged up but stable. Is everyone else okay?” 

“Everyone else is out, we’ve located you and should be through to you within 15 minutes, hang tight. I’ll stay on the line.”

“Thank you, Catherine.” Danny looked over to where Steve sat, no longer bleeding, staring warily around the room. “They’re on their way Steve, 15 minutes.” Steve smiled, they were going to be okay.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Post-hospital release continuation - getting slightly more into recovery/comfort.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a fill that hopefully works for Whumptober Prompt 29 "Reluctant Bedrest" I couldn't bring myself to start yet another story. I'm like 4 days behind. 1k words per day is hard to sustain but I'll try. Maybe I'll bump back down to 500 words, but like I hate reading really short one-shots so I always assume nobody wants really small stories. Idk.

It had been 20 minutes since Steve had been released from the hospital. Scratch that- since he discharged himself against medical advice. It had been 7 days since Danny pulled a piece of rebar out of his partner’s abdomen as they were nearly crushed under a collapsed building. Steve had begrudgingly stayed in the hospital while the first round of antibiotics ran their course, and the lacerations gradually began to scab. But as soon as he was well enough to sign the paperwork the doctors hesitantly released him with strict orders of bed rest, which Danny made a mental note of because God knows Steve sure wouldn’t. 

Even as Danny reluctantly drove them back to the McGarrett residence, he knew the healing process was just beginning, and it definitely wasn’t going to be an easy one. Danny came around to the passenger side when they arrived, gently helping Steve stand, wrapping an arm around his waist as they slowly made their way to the front door.

“You could have stayed at my house Steve, there are fewer stairs," he struggled with his spare key, trying to keep Steve upright as he unlocked the door. 

“Danny I’m fine. I’ll just sleep on the couch, and you can take the guest room if you’re staying.”

“One, obviously I’m staying. Two, no. That would leave you either climbing stairs in your condition or sleeping on the couch. I’ll take the couch, you will sleep in your guestroom.” 

Steve stumbled, catching himself against the wall as Danny locked the door behind them. 

“Steve please sit down. You really shouldn’t have left the hospital, just because I’m here with you doesn’t mean I agree with your decision.”

Steve lowered himself onto the couch, groaning lightly, hands pressed hard against his abdomen. Danny joined him momentarily, one hand reaching over to rest lightly on Steve’s uninjured thigh. 

“Let’s get you ready for bed, it’s been a long day.”

“Danny it’s 6 pm.”

“I meant for me, it’s been a long day for me, Steven. So please shut up, and we can get you set up in the bedroom."

Danny stood up stiffly, reaching out a hand and pulling Steve up, following Steve as he walked gingerly to the bedroom. 

Steve didn’t want to admit it, but his chest hurt. And his leg hurt. And his head. Everything hurt. Maybe he shouldn’t have signed himself out of the hospital, but there was no way he was going to admit Danny was right. 

The pain spiked with each step he took, taking his breath away, but he hid it well until he could sit down on the bed. Danny set the instructions and pill bottles the hospital had given him on the bedside table, turning as Steve sighed loudly. 

“I’m not going to take those Danny, you know I don’t like them.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t like to see you in pain.”

“I don’t like how they make me feel,” Steve shot back.

“I don’t care how they make you feel, though you’d probably feel differently if a hot nurse was telling you to take them.”

“Don’t think so lowly of yourself Danny,” Steve grinned mischievously from where he gingerly sat on the bed, “you’re the only hot nurse for me.” 

“If you’re trying to seduce me out of making you take your meds, then you are fooling yourself. Speaking of fooling people, I can tell you’re in pain, so stop trying so hard to hide it. You were impaled, I don’t expect you to be fine.” Steve’s body language softened with these words, and he let out a deep, painful breath, the facade leaving his face as the pain spiked again. 

“Lay down babe, take half a pill, that’s it, just enough to take the edge off. Then we can discuss it again in the morning. I’ll go grab a glass of water.” And Danny turned to leave the room before pausing and turning back. “Steve I swear to God if I come back and find you standing up, sitting up- anything more than lying flat on your back I will drive you straight back to the hospital.”

“No promises,” Steve smirked, leaning back against the pillows, closing his eyes for a brief moment of respite.


End file.
